Microsoft’s Radical New Logo: A Big Improvement, but Still Stodgy

It only makes sense. Microsoft is about to aggressively relaunch itself and its many products and introduce some new ones; the company is making bold moves and attempting to emerge from the shadow of its Gates-era dominance and subsequent floundering to redefine itself and its portfolio to compete head-to-head with the likes of Apple and Google. Certainly, a new logo is in order.

Indeed, after 25 years (holy crap, 1987 was 25 years ago?), Microsoft has ditched that tired old black bold-italic logo and introduced a more colorful version.

Old and busted

The word “Microsoft” is now gray in color and in the pleasantly attractive Segoe font that’s become ubiquitous across Microsoft products and marketing materials. “Microsoft” is accompanied by a square window symbol that’s comprised of four colorful squares--red, green, blue, and yellow-ish--and is designed to represent Microsoft’s “diverse portfolio of products”.

New hotness

Whether you dig the new logo or not, get used to it; it’s going to be everywhere Microsoft markets itself, from its own website to retail stores to TV and Web ads, and if the past is any indication, the company won’t be changing it anytime in the next couple of decades.

The new look is definitely an improvement over the old logo, which looked as dated as it was, but if this new design is supposed to be a harbinger for Microsoft’s cool, savvy resurgence, it’s a swing and a miss. It’s rather boxy and boring, which does little to dispel Microsoft’s all-too-frequent image of stodginess.

So it goes. Even so, we can’t wait to get our hands on all the new products that Microsoft is releasing this fall.